Existence: It’s ‘All in the Timing’

Pop quiz -- what do the following have in common: the theory that three monkeys typing into infinity will sooner or later produce “Hamlet”; minimalist composer Philip Glass visiting a bakery; and the mysterious death of Leon Trotsky?

Answer: Each provides fodder for a scene in “All in the Timing,” David Ives’ savvy, snappy anthology of short plays celebrating pop culture, language and the lighter side of everyday existential conundrums.

The enduring cerebral charms of Ives’ loopy playlets are evident in a first-rate revival at Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre, presented in collaboration with the Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara, where the production originated last year. Through the varied program, director Robert Grande-Weiss and an accomplished cast never lose sight of the unifying message: Being smart can be fun.

In a lab experiment testing the “Hamlet” theory, three typewriter-bound chimps (Paul Provenza, Nancy Nufer, Michael Medico, in Barbara Lackner’s colorful circus monkey costumes) contemplate their literary task.

“He brings us in here to produce copy,” Provenza fumes about their unseen captor, “then all he wants is a clean draft of somebody else’s stuff.”

Rather than coasting on Ives’ clever repartee, the performers dig deeper, turning otherwise abstract exercises into exchanges that delight and engage.

In a surreal cafe encounter between strangers (Carolyn Palmer, Paul Welterlen), each time one of them says the wrong thing (“I went to Oral Roberts University,” “So what if I had a total body liposuction?”) a cautionary bell rings and they rewind to the misstep and try again, getting a little further each time.

We root for them because both actors infuse the scene with real characters and consequences, underscoring the precarious nature of the courtship.

Welterlen also brings sympathetic appeal to a hapless victim trapped in “Philadelphia” -- a metaphysical black hole where you can’t get anything you ask for -- who learns to navigate his predicament by requesting the opposite of his intentions.

He’s less successful as Philip Glass trying to buy a loaf of bread and finding himself caught in a sound-bite loop; though this scene is more musically appropriate than in its previous staging, it’s still a specialized, one-note conceit.

The standout scenes pair Provenza and Nufer, two performers with comedy in their bones. A series of instant replays shows Trotsky’s wife reading an encyclopedia account of her husband’s assassination -- which they agree accounts for the pick ax protruding from his head -- and his varied reactions, from ideological outrage to bickering lifted straight from “The Honeymooners.”

The two bring tongue-twisting dexterity -- and surprisingly touching rapport -- to a crash course in the universal language of Unamunda, a nonsense dialect composed of puns and allusions that comes close enough to English to be understandable. “Votsda mattress?” Provenza’s flim-flam professor asks Nufer’s shy, stuttering student, as romance begins to blossom. Their skillful delivery makes the meaning clear, and honors the intelligence of the audience in following along.

*

‘All in the Timing’

Where: Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura

When: 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays

Ends: May 21

Price: $26 to $49

Contact: (805) 667-2900 or www.rubicontheatre.org

Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes